Monday, December 18, 2017

Christmas Zone Celebration 2017

We all gathered for our zone devotional in the Chapel and then retired to the gym for some lighter "entertainment".  Tony and Elder Steinekert (Jay) put together a cute rendition of "Elvis" together......Before they began, Tony asked me to come up and sing a little nursery rhyme we learned 43 years ago after he came home from his first (younger) mission to Germany!  I died!  I do not like being in front of people especially to perform ANYTHING!  But, there we were, singing our nursery rhyme and all seemed to enjoy it.  Then, the laughs came as Tony (with Jay Steinekert on the piano) sang, imitating Elvis....."Blue Christmas".....ending with "porky pigs" rendition of the same song......  Everyone had a good time

 This picture below is of Elfie.  She lives in our building and has become a friend to many missionaries who live here.  She is not a member of our church although she comes weekly to our Sacrament service.  She says that as a youth, she was forced to join Hitler's Youth and would never join another organization as long as she lives.  She lived here thru the war and saw many atrocities as a young girl that she will never forget.  She is quite an accomplished piano player and she got up and sat at the piano and explained to us that she use to play for the American Servicemen serving against Hitlers regime.  As she told us a bit about her experiences she continued playing the piano softly and when she got to the part about the American Servicemen, she began to play the Battle Hymn of the Republic and one by one we stood with our hands over our hearts feeling what it must have been like for those servicemen here in Germany away from loved ones, as we are experiencing being away from our loved ones although the circumstances are quite different for us.  It was quite touching and somber.  When you live in Europe, you gain such a great appreciation for America and all the blessings and luxuries of life we are afforded.

 This is Tony imitating ELVIS and doing quite a good job!  It was a wonderful evening.


No comments:

Post a Comment